日本語 
New Heart Watanabe International Hospital, a world-renowned cardiac surgery institution headquartered in Suginami-ku, Tokyo, announced its formal launch of a generative AI-powered chatbot, named “New Heart AI,” on its official website on October 30, 2025. This is an unprecedented step for Japan’s medical sector and marks the first adoption of generative AI by a specialized cardiac hospital in the country.
It offers support on a 24/7 basis, all year round, to people looking for information about different heart diseases, their treatment methods, and associated surgery costs. This marks one of the largest leaps in how healthcare providers engage with patients in a digital-first environment.
From Personal Connection to Digital Compassion
For over two decades, Dr. Tsuyoshi Watanabe and his staff at New Heart Watanabe International Hospital have been answering patient inquiries personally either through email or LINE consultation. Those free, late-night responses from the doctors became the hallmark of the hospital’s philosophy-to always put their patients first.
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However, as the number of inquiries increased, this highly customized support system became difficult to maintain. “New Heart AI” was introduced to smoothly extend that human touch by digitizing it. The AI has now been made the first line of contact for those people who are apprehensive to send an email or make a call directly to a doctor. It answers basic questions and gives initial advice to such users.
More complex queries, beyond the chatbot’s capacity, are escalated to medical professionals for follow-up. The AI hence supplements human expertise in this regard, not replacing it, and acts as a digital bridge between patients and doctors.
Encouraging Second Opinions through Technology
Second opinions remain a culturally sensitive practice in Japan, which makes one of the standout features of the “New Heart AI” service its encouragement of the practice. Many patients are hesitant to consult another doctor for fear of offending their current physician.
The leadership at the hospital sees the chatbot as a means to normalize seeking of second opinions, helping patients understand that seeking another specialist is not a sign of doubt but a way to better treatment.
“New Heart AI” will make information more accessible and interactions less intimidating for patients, empowering them to make better decisions about their cardiac health. “You only have one heart,” reminds the hospital’s team – a message that strikes deep in both medical and emotional ways.
Transformative Consequences for Japan’s Healthcare and Technology Sectors
The introduction of such a generative AI chatbot within a medical specialty hospital holds much broader implications, extending beyond cardiology.
Digital Transformation in Healthcare
Japan’s healthcare system used to be slow with new technologies. Now, it is quickly adopting AI tools. These tools help improve patient engagement and make operations smoother. New Heart AI might lead to hospitals, clinics, and rehab centers widely adopting AI.
Empowering the MedTech Ecosystem
The project boosts the growing partnership between healthcare and technology. Japanese tech giants, like NTT Data, Fujitsu, and NEC, are set to lead innovation. They will advance medical data integration, natural language processing, and secure cloud infrastructure. These are key parts of generative AI models.
Increasing Demand for HealthTech Startups
Japan’s aging population needs more medical advice. If “New Heart AI” succeeds, HealthTech startups will be pushed to innovate. We will soon see a wave of AI tools. They will help with tasks like triaging patients, analyzing symptoms, teleconsultation, and tailored health education.
AI Ethics and Data Security
Japan prioritizes patient privacy and data security above all else. Using AI in sensitive medical settings requires strong ethical governance and compliance. This ensures safe and clear AI practices in healthcare.
A Catalyst for Digital Public Health
If adopted nationally, AI-driven consultation systems could alleviate the workload on doctors and provide uninterrupted access to the public health system, especially in rural or under-resourced regions. This would be in line with Japan’s governmental initiatives within the framework of the Digital Agency’s push with Smart Hospitals and AI-integrated healthcare infrastructure.
A New Model of Human-AI Collaboration
The approach here by New Heart Watanabe International Hospital shows a balanced philosophy: AI as an assistant, not a replacement. Rather than replacing the empathy-driven work of medical professionals, “New Heart AI” has been designed to extend that empathy digitally, ensuring patients always feel heard-whether through a human or an AI.
Moreover, the system ensures real-time updates and escalation of responses to ensure that each query by patients meets with due attention, as is the traditionally known accessibility and compassion of the hospital.
Dr. Watanabe envisions how the latest in AI technology can be integrated with medical ethics, making his hospital the first of its kind within Japan’s digital healthcare movement.
Outlook: A Turning Point for Japan’s AI-Driven Healthcare The launch of “New Heart AI” represents something more than an innovation by a single hospital: it represents the opening of Japan to the era of AI-enabled healthcare. As generative AI models continue to evolve, so will their applications in medical communication, triage, and education, among others. This evolution opens the door to AI software development, data analytics, medical hardware integration, and cloud-based compliance solutions for Japan’s tech industry. The key beneficiaries will be companies that move quickly to establish AI-healthcare partnerships over the next few years.
Ultimately, “New Heart AI” stands as a perfect example of how technology can humanize medicine and provide reassurance, accessibility, and trust-not just algorithms. In doing so, it’s setting a new standard for how Japan’s medical institutions can blend compassion with innovation.
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